Thinking about this for a bit, I can identify five times when I have been really impressed by some optical instrument. These don’t count the “WOW” reactions to the initial phase corrected Leica and Zeiss binoculars of the late 1980’s. The price was too depressing.
The first time was the Brunton Eterna 7x42, at a binocular clinic at a Bald Eagle Conference. It turned out that it wasn’t so much the Eterna, but that the phase correction of the Leica and Zeiss was now more widely available. What that feature did for affordable binoculars impressed me. That was reinforced by comparison of the Eagle Optics Ranger and the brand new Swarovski EL. The Ranger wasn’t an EL, but what they did for their price in comparison was impressive.
The second time was with the improvement that the Vortex Viper and Pentax SP offered in the mid price glass. These looked like a nice evolution of the mid range binoculars.
The third time was when I finally succumbed to all of the “these things are great” comments about the 6x30 Yosemite. I figured, yeah right. Well I was wrong.
The fourth time was with the Promaster Infinity Elite ELX ED, which impression was recently reinforced by its closely related competitor, the ZEN ED. Finally there were binoculars with impressive optics that were actually affordable.
I am now experiencing the fifth time. I have both 8x and 10x42 ZRS HD binoculars for review. Not only am I impressed, I am nearly astonished. I have always demanded maximum value for the price I pay for anything I buy. I thought that the optical best bang for the buck had to be the Promaster/ZEN/Hawke binoculars. Now I’m not so sure maybe that honor is now at least to be divided three ways. The Yosemite in the less than $100 class, the above mentioned ED’s in the $400 class and now the ZRS in the $200 class. The upcoming $300 class Bushnell Legend Ultra HD and whatever siblings it may have, find the ZRS in their path. Maybe the ED component will favor them. Whatever the course, the new ED has its work cut out if it is to beat these guys. Even if they fit squarely in the middle of the difference between the ZRS and ZEN ED, it may be that most eyes won’t be able to pick up the differences. Competition at this price level might get ferocious.
Among the binoculars I have for comparison, the ZRS whacks the 8x42 Monarch. The fov is bigger, the edge to edge sharpness you will have to see for yourself, the depth of field is far better on the ZRS over the Monarch. The color and sharpness also go to the ZRS.
The more equal comparison is to the Vortex Viper, which now carries a price of over $500. The ZRS are less than half of that. The image quality is for all appearances equal, but there appears to be a slight edge in favor of the ZRS. Color about the same, clarity, sharpness, depth of field, are so close to the same that most will not tell the two apart. Your bank account will however be able to figure it out in short order. Advantage here goes to the ZRS. It has more fov and significantly better across the field and edge of field sharpness. I have never regretted buying the Viper, but as of right now, there is no way I would not take the ZRS.
How does the ZRS compare to the ZEN ED? The ZRS is not quite at that level. The ED glass does show better color, and has a bit better resolution and sharpness. It also has the wide angle advantage.
Zen-Ray advertises its efforts to achieve a flat field in the ZRS, and it appears they have pretty well done that. As I understand this, the HD glass in the ZRS is high density LaK glass used in the 5-lens eyepiece. Zen Ray credits the eye piece design for the flatness, edge to edge sharpness and twilight brightness the ZRS shows.
From the pictures on the Zen Ray site, the ZRS looks like a Viper. This does not hold up in a side by side view. Somehow the ZRS design eliminated most of the humping up of the hinge typical in roof binoculars, giving the binocular a quite compact size for a full size 42mm. You can see the feature here:
http://www.zen-ray.com/summit.shtml.
The binocular is the same forest green color as is the ZEN ED, with the same design pattern to the armor. The focus turns through a bit over 1 ½ turns. Now the stray light may be a tad bit better controlled in the ZEN ED and Promaster. CA seems about the same. Color rendition may be a bit better in the ED. The only way I get stray light effects is looking directly under bright noon day sun, in an arc about 10* either side of the sun.
There is no way in h#!! are these 8x42 ZRS HD going back to Zen Ray. These things I’m buying. These $200 glasses are just as close to the ZEN ED et. al. as the ZEN ED is to the alphas. Aside from the ZEN ED types, there is NOTHING in the $500 range that compares to these $200 binoculars. Image wise the Viper is close, value wise, nothing.
That’s all for now. More, including pictures later.
